24/7 movement
The 24/7 movement 'was a series protests and occupations of public spaces in Leeds, centred on Town Hall Plaza and Central Park, that took place from 19-26 January 2012. They were against the proposed SOPA/PIPA internet laws, and were the largest protests in the history of Animal Crossing Island, let alone Leeds. The movement, charactised by protests and sit-ins similar in form to the worldwide Occupy movement, it named after the phrase "24/7" (meaning 24 hours a day, 7 days a week) because that is how long it took place for. The protests have been supported by many groups, notably President George. Other supporters include Mayor Tortimer, the Green party, and the Leeds Wiki, and more. Over 1 million people from across Animal Crossing Island attended all of the protests (they did 'a full 24/7') while a further 5 million attended smaller parts of it. Beginning The protest movement was proposed by a group on 16 January as a non-violent show of determination against the planned new ''Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011 (PROTECT IP Act or PIPA) and the ''Stop Online Piracy Act ''(SOPA), to be put into law on worldwide internet. If coming into effect, it would cause sites like Wikipedia to be drastically cut in size and the amount of knowledge available on the internet would be severely limited. On 18 January the action was confirmed, and gained support of high-profile groups worldwide. Mayor Tortimer said he was proud that people were taking a stand. Timeline of protests 19 January Protesters began gathering at around 0400 on the morning of 19 January outside the Town Hall, and by midday the number of protesters had broke the 700,000 mark. By evening the full 1 million all-week camping protesters had arrived on site, with 500,000 more staying for the night and then leaving on 20 January. Despite the fact that sirens at the site could be heard miles away, these were actually attending a small unrelated grass fire adjacent the site (although it may have been caused by an accidentally dropped cigarette), and there was in fact no trouble, with the police watching over the camping protesters. 20 January As protesters awoke the next morning, the amount of protesters swelled to over 1.5 million as daytime-only protesters began to arrive. Due to the sheer amount of protesters cramped onto Leeds Town Hall Plaza, police escorted around half to a park outside Leeds Interchange, due to safety fears. The total number of protesters involved swelled to over 2 million for the first time at around 1400, around half at each site. Due to record high January temperatures and warm sunshine, many protesters took a very laid-back approach, some sunbathing on the lawns at Central Park. As night approached and the daytime-only protesters left, the number of camping protesters dropped to the expected around 1 million. 21 January On 21 January campers awoke to another lovely day in Leeds, even warmer than the last and with a light, cool breeze. As a result the attendance once again broke the record, reaching 4 million. As a result of this, due to overcrowding fears, police moved protesters over to Central Park throughout the day. 22 January On 22 January, temperatures topped 20 degrees Celsius, and the full 6 million people turned up, with many sunbathing at Central Park. However, many people went home after powerful evening thunderstorms caused by the winter heat hit, with 100mm of rain falling in two hours causing severely waterlogged and muddy ground. By nightfall, only 700,000 people remained. 23 January The terrible weather continued into the 23rd, and while the thunderstorms had died out and rain slowed down, there was light rain with sporadic bursts of showery heavy rain all day, and as well as this the temperatures had fallen to just 5 degrees Celsius, further disrupting plans. The event peaked at 2 million people, drastically down from the previous day, and by nightfall had plummeted to a record low 400,000. 24 January Luckily, on 24 January, the weather improved, with sunny spells in between short period of cloud, with around 10 minutes of rainfall near midday. Temperatures climbed back to 18 degrees Celsius, and this encouraged people to come back. The total number of protesters swelled up to 4.5 million, with 1 million camping overnight. 25 January On 25 January, the weather was impeccable, with temperatures reaching 20 degrees Celsius with bright and strong sunshine all day, with no breeze. For the second time at the event, the full 6 million people turned up on 25 January thanks to the warm weather, and with the ground completely dried out, a record 4 million camped overnight. 26 January On the final day of the movement, the weather was the same as the day before, but even hotter. An unprecedented and unexpected high of 8 million people attended the final day, before they all started returning home from around 1700 onwards. The last group of around a hundred movementers left the Park at around 2350. Response, effects, and aftermath In response to the announced go-ahead for the protests on 18 January, Leeds City Police released a statement saying that 'camping protesters would be removed, with force if necessary', as they were on Leeds City Council land; despite the fact that LCC said that this was okay, as they supported the protests too. This planned forced eviction of protesters was met with widespread criticism from residents of Leeds, and the organisers of 24/7 stated that 'we will ignore these insane, lunatic threats', leading to fears that the movement, at first set out to be peaceful, may turn into violence. On 20 January, the President announced that the bank holiday events of the Fishing Tourney, on 21 January, and Yay Day, on 22 January, had been postponed due to the protests until 28 and 29 January respectively. Violence and arrests The campaign has been set out as a peaceful one; indeed, the only trouble came when some protesters were forcibly moved from the Plaza to Central Park over overcrowding fears. In the move, 7 people were arrested and no damage caused. A further three people were arrested on 25 January for climbing onto the roof of the Town Hall. Other similar movements In Home, splinter group '''24/7H '''formed on 18 January, planning to protest on the same date outside Home Town Hall. 50,000 people had signed up for 24/7H before it was cancelled. 24/7H returned on 20 January for 7 days, with over 100,000 signing up for it. Unlike other 24/7 movements, 24/7H was marred by violence throughout, which was condemned by all. In G-Ville, shortly after, splinter group '''24/7G formed, again planning protests on the same date. Around 1,000 people attended the protests on G-Ville Island. See also *2012 Leeds Wiki blackout *Leeds-United States relations#2011-2012 diplomatic tensions *24/7H movement *Occupy Leeds